Western Washington squads hold first-day lead at GNAC indoor champs...
SPOKANE--After the first day of competition at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships at The Podium, both Western Washington teams have slight leads heading into Tuesday's final day.
On the men's side, the Vikings have a 54-38 edge over Central Washington after five of 17 events, while the Western women lead defending champion Western Oregon by a 50-49 count with Central Washington third at 40 points after six events.
MEN'S RECAP
One of the meet's biggest storylines going into the championship meet is whether or not Western Washington's Kevin McDermott (Thomas Lai/GNAC photo) could pull off the triple, winning the 5000, 3000 and mile, a feat last accomplished by Micah Chelimo of Alaska Anchorage in 2013.
McDermott answered the first third of the triple by winning the 5000, running 14:30.28, to beat Central Washington's cross country All-American Johan Correa, who ran 14:39.60.
McDermott and Correa ran behind Alaska Anchorage's Michael Zapherson, but with 850 meters to go, McDermott put on a surge, and opened up a 10-meter lead on Correa and Zapherson that neither could not cover. He eventually stretched it out, running a 2:03.28 last 800.
Behind McDermott and Correa, the Vikings got points from Ryan Clough in fourth (14:47.57) and Sten Brakstad in sixth (14:55.75).
Western got a win in the long jump as Troy Roberson, who was second entering the final round, took the victory away from Central Washington's Isaiah Webster (23-2.75/7.08m) with a leap of 23-3.5 (7.10m).
Drew Klein of Central Washington won the pole vault with a clearance of 16-2.75 (4.95m), with Seattle Pacific's Kainoa Lee placing third at 14-8.25 (4.48m).
In a minor upset, Simon Fraser won the distance medley relay, running 10:09.75 to Western Washington's 10:13.70.
In the other final contested, Omar Young of Central Washington was second in the weight throw with a mark of 56-4.5 (17.18m), while Angelo Ramos of Western Washington was third at 54-11.5 (16.75m).
At the break, Andrew Boyd of Saint Martin's leads the heptathlon with 2706 points, with Central Washington's Drew Klein fourth at 2547, and Western Washington's Austin Seals seventh at 1862.
WOMEN'S RECAP
Wins by Ashley Reeck and the distance medley relay team got the Vikings a slight 50-49 lead after the first day over defending conference champion Western Oregon.
Reeck led a 1-3-6-8 Viking finish in the 5000, running 17:30.87, with teammates Meaera Nystrom (3rd, 17:36.32), Emma Smith (6th, 18:00.95), and Ella Edens (8th, 18:20.82) trailing.
Western's team of Mia Crocker, Marian Ledesma, Evelyn Collins-Winn, and Ila Davis ran to a 19 second win in the distance medley relay, running a season best 11:50.82.
Conference leader Emy Ntekpere of Central Washington won the high jump with a clearance of 5-7.75 (1.72m), with Kora Cook of Western Washington third at 5-3.75 (1.62m). Ntekpere, who was looking at a possible jumps triple victory at these championships, was second in the long jump at 19-0 (5.79m), as conference leader Ujunwa Nwokoma of Western Oregon won at 19-1.5 (5.83m).
Ellie DeGroot of Central Washington won the pentathlon with a final score of 3332 points, with Hannah Chang of Seattle Pacific second with 3135 points.
DeGroot finished second behind Chang in the 60 hurdles (8.85 to 8.87), but won the final event, the 800 in 2:22.94. She tied for fifth in the high jump (4-9.5/1.46m), threw 29-8 (9.04m) in the shot put, and long jumped 16-6 (5.03m).
In addition to her 60 hurdles time of 8.85, Chang's day included a tie for second in the high jump, clearing 4-10.5 (1.49m), a seventh place finish in the shot put at 27-9.5 (8.47m), a long jump mark of 16-1.5 (4.91m) for sixth, and an 800 time of 2:36.06, which was third in the event.
Jocelyn Saribay of Saint Martin's was second in the weight throw with a best of 52-0 (15.85m), while Katie Potts of Western Washington was third at 51-11.25 (15.83m).
Prelims were contested in the men's and women's 60, 60 hurdles, 200, 400 and 800, with finals on Tuesday.
Among the top time qualifiers were Lauryn Chandler and Elise Hopper of Central Washington in the 60 hurdles (8.61) and 400 (57.02), along with Marian Ledesma of Western Washington in the 800 at 2:13.26.
In the women's 60 qualifying, Marie-Eloise Leclair of Simon Fraser set an all-time conference best of 7.30, while defending champion E'lexis Hollis of Central Washington ran a personal best 7.37, setting up what could be the most anticipated race of the women's competition.
The top qualifier in the men's 60 hurdles was Hunter Flick of Western Washington at 8.19.
The meet resumes Tuesday starting at 8:30 am with the heptathlon hurdles, and the meet concluding at 2:45 pm with the men's 4 x 400 relay.
NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the sports information office at Western Washington University contributed to this report.
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